Fixing to have faith

Jesus replied to them, “Have faith in God.” – Mark 11:22

For the last couple of weeks I have been meaning to get around to thinking about having faith, but other stuff keeps coming up. I don’t have any theological axes to grind because I use a chainsaw which will stay sharp for quite a while if you don’t run it in the ground. I will point out that if you don’t have a real job, any integrity, or any fear of God, there is good money to be made in the various repackaged models of good old “mind science”. From Deepak to Dyer to Jesse Duplantis, thinking good thoughts and speaking faith obviously works because all these guys are millionaires.

If you don’t know Jesse Duplantis, he is a Charismatic preacher from New Orleans – he used to be strictly an evangelist, but I think he pastors his own church down there now as well. He’s a funny guy, tells lots of jokes and funny stories, and, as far as I know he is a decent and moral man. He is a “faith preacher” in the tradition of Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, and many others. A few years ago, Brother Duplantis decided he needed his own plane to fly around and preach the prosperity gospel. It was a jet, and I think the price tag was around $8 million.

Brother Jesse has a half-hour program that he airs on the Christian networks as well as local stations around the country. He has a substantial audience in addition to all of his preaching in large churches, campmeetings, and other venues. The man is gifted, and he has worked for years to achieve the success he has. I have no quarrel with him at any level except to point out that what works for Reverend Duplantis may not be the norm.

When he decided he needed a new plane, he addressed it on his program. He explained that he needed eight thousand viewers – certainly a minority of his audience – to send $1000 each to buy his jet. He said he was using his faith and believing for this to be done. Now anyone who listens to and enjoys Reverend Duplantis or benefits from his teaching and ministry is free to support him financially. I’d much rather see money go to Brother Jesse than to Uncle Sam. I wondered, though, if Jesse is “believing God” for his $8 million why he bothered to mention the specifics on his television program. I don’t have a television program or a radio program, and my blog is pretty secretive, too. If you or I need to “believe God” for a new jet or even a new Corvette, our options are a little more limited. We’re pretty much stuck “believing God for” whatever and taking care of it ourselves.

Again, I have no quarrel with Jesse Duplantis or any of the rest I mentioned. I almost always listen to Joel Osteen when I run across his program on TV, just because he’s positive and uplifting. My quarrel is with the concept expressed by the phrase “believing for”, or “have faith that” as prosperity preachers use it.

The Biblical concept of faith is never separated from the object. When the Disciples wondered at the cursing of the fig tree in Mark 11, Jesus begins His explanation by saying, “Have faith IN God.” One of the most egregious wrongs done by the Word of Faith movement was that for many years they took a marginal reading of the Lord’s words, which could be read as “have faith of God”-- and turned it into “have the God-kind of faith”. As I have to repeat often, I am no Greek scholar, but I know there is no accepted translation of the New Testament that renders that statement in that way.

When Jesus did the miraculous for people, He sometimes questioned them in this manner: Do you believe I can do this? Notice, He is asking them, in essence, if they believe in Him. I do not recall a single instance in the New Testament where anyone was asked to “have faith for” or “believe for” anything. When Peter and John healed a crippled man in the Gate Beautiful of the temple, Peter declared, “By faith in His name, His name has made this man strong …”.

Not faith for; faith IN.

I mentioned this somewhere the other day, that I believe everybody has faith. Everybody believes in some stuff. The critical thing is not the fact that we have faith but what we have faith in. For example, at the moment, a certain percentage of the population has faith in the government. I, too, have faith in government, but my faith is mainly that government will take my money, waste 70% of it and use the other 30% to collect more money from me. Outside of that, I’ve never seen government do much worthwhile.

Some folks believe in themselves. Their theme song is, “It’s a small world after all.”

The virtue, I repeat, is in the object of faith rather than the faith itself. Faith in God will get you through the times when you can’t always get what you want. I don’t just “believe God” to pull me out of the ditch. I believe in the goodness of God which may leave me in the ditch long enough for me not to get hit by a freight train.

Whether my need is forgiveness, or the power to forgive, grace or mercy, light, strength, wisdom, patience (which I need right now), holiness, or just plain help, I will put my faith in the God who provides. I put my faith in the Lord, not in positive confessions or a positive mental attitude. I don’t trust in my ability to visualize or the consistency of my affirmations, but I trust in the Lord, the One who knows what I need. He is the One who will never fail me, and all He asks is that I trust Him.